Some of the most fun I’ve ever had in my musical travels has been the act of doing guitar clinics around the world. Wherever you go, music is unquestionably a universal language, and when you are actually teaching it, everyone is certainly thankful as well as grateful to you.

It’s especially fun when the audience knows you’ve come a long way to be there speaking and playing for them, such as when I toured Australia , Japan and Europe. It’s also a real blast when they can supply a real live band to back you up, such as what I had in England, Finland and Japan. It seems that those players take their role extra seriously when they know you’re from a long ways away, and you need them to play well!

I swear, there was one time when I had finished playing my own tour in the U.K., and had to move on to Finland to play with a Finnish backup band, and they were better than my own group! They just seemed to take the music a bit more seriously, and still, we had an amazing and happy time….also made friends forever in the process!

At the same time, doing many clinic tours in the US and Canada also proved very rewarding, as I got to play in some pretty remote regions! Still, there always seemed to be enthusiastic crowds, no matter how remote the venue, and to tell you the truth, the more remote they were, the better the gigs were! Maybe it’s just the plain fact that when I was that remote, I was the biggest thing going on, so foks just had to come out and see me!

But, whatever the circumstances, there’s no doubt that doing guitar clinics the world over has always been one of my true loves. I know I now reach so many of you this way, online, and of course, through my endless videos and books, but there is still nothing like being on the road, seeing the real faces of all of you, and being on that “campaign trail!” Hopefully, I’ll get to see you all out there once again, on the road!